Is This The End for Soul Out Barca?
2nd October 2008
What's Next for Good Times Promotions?
There’s been a lot of rumours and misleading information surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the Soul Out club nights from Barca, so Soul Control have set out to get the low-down on what’s really been going on at the venue straight from the horse’s mouth.
Barca Crisis!
The last Soul Out event at Barca was way back on Bank Holiday Saturday 24th May. This was the night when Tiny G had been involved in a serious car accident and when Soul Out - Barca finally started to show it was recovering from a noticeable lull and when the future seemed a lot brighter than it done for some time. But isn’t it just sods law that just as the green shoots of recovery were starting to show for Soul Out, that the rug was seemingly pulled from under the feet of the event that has become the bastion of Quality Soul in Manchester City Centre.
Rumours are abound that Barca has been sold, that Wadey’s night had just plainly lost the venue or that he had simply found a new home for Soul Out. Soul Control put the question to Wade to find out exactly what was going on with Soul Out where Barca was concerned.
Wadey commented; ‘We have had many happy times at Barca over the years, but in June of this year there was a change on management at the venue. The new team seemed very reluctant to speak to me at first, but after repeated requests for a meeting I was finally granted an audience with them.’
Wadey explained in detail what took place in the meetings and after what he told us, we can certainly see where his annoyance has come from. Wadey continued:
‘The new manager of Barca told me that a decision had been made to discontinue Soul Out – Barca although I had events in June, August Bank Holiday, October and New Years Eve 2008 booked and planned’!!! ‘The manager didn’t really give me a solid reason for this, but said it had something to do with a decision taken by the area manager!!! I called the area manager to request a meeting with him to get clarification on the situation, and when we met he denied all knowledge of saying that my nights had been cancelled and as far as he was concerned nothing had changed’!!
‘I thought Nice one, and started to plan my next event, but credible rumours kept coming back to me that the management were telling people that Soul Out – Barca was finished for good’!!! ‘I stayed in touch with the area manager who continually denied the rumours had anything to do with the Barca management, but I suppose the proof of the pudding came at August Bank Holiday when it was finally confirmed to me that this event was not going ahead.’
‘The next rumour as to why I couldn’t get a firm agreement from Barca beggared belief’!!!
‘The management kept me hanging on a string telling me that there was still a chance of the October and NYE 08 events going ahead as planned, but again this was in doubt as they wouldn’t give me a cast-iron agreement in writing.’ Wade continued, ‘The reasons why I was being strung along kept changing and the next rumour as to why I couldn’t get a firm agreement from Barca beggared belief!!! ‘I was now being told in confidence from the Barca staff that the real reason the management wouldn’t give me a cast-iron agreement was because the venue was on the market to be sold and that they didn’t want any ‘Black Music Nights’ there during this period!!!! Finally, this admission backed up the extreme rumours that had been circulating for weeks’!!!!
This was a jaw dropping moment for us here at Soul Control because we thought the days of ‘Black Music-ism’ were long gone!!!!! But quite obviously not!!!! Wadey also wanted to add that when people were asking him what was happening with Barca, he wasn’t lying or trying to be evasive when his story kept changing, all he was doing was telling people what the management were telling him. Even now the management are still maintaining that Soul Out may still have a future at Barca, but Wadey isn’t holding his breath!
‘What does the future hold for Soul Out?'
Anyway on a brighter note, Soul Out – Mint Lounge is still thriving and is proving itself to be one of Manchester’s most popular Soul events, and Wadey is currently sourcing and in negotiations with a number of plush hotel chains to move Soul Out to one of their establishmnets for the short-term in the near future. Wadey concluded, ‘Who knows, if the hotel events go well and capture the public’s imagination, we may have found a permanent way forward and what happened to Soul Out at Barca might just have been a blessing in disguise’!!!